Eternity's Mind (27 page)

Krieger bobbed his head. “I assure you, General, we've achieved a balance of peak production speed and safety interlocks so you don't have to worry about a repeat of … last time.”

“Let's not talk about last time,” Keah grumbled. “No more accidents. Your new sun bombs were marvelous at the Onthos system, and they left a few good bruises when we turned them loose at Relleker.”

“But Relleker was still lost, General.” Krieger looked embarrassed, as if that were somehow his fault.

“A hell of a lot of bugbots were lost too, and I know we damaged the Shana Rei hex ships. We just needed more sun bombs. A lot more. We never expected to face a million robots. We have no idea where they all came from.”

“Five sun-bomb production factories are online right now,” Krieger said, “and I'm running a very tight ship. Facilities six and seven should be online within three weeks. At present, I have forty-two completed sun bombs right here in these factories, ready to be placed aboard CDF ships.”

“Good, then I can replenish what we used at Relleker. The
Kutuzov
needs to be reloaded,” Keah said. “I'll have someone arrange to receive them no later than tomorrow. Our arsenals are only at a quarter strength.”

The weapons scientist was relieved to be back in her good graces. “It'll be my pleasure to be excessive, General.”

“Don't slow production under any circumstances,” Deputy Cain warned. “The shadow threat appears to be growing.”

“We are in full agreement, Mr. Deputy,” Keah said, and cracked her knuckles. “I am already looking forward to our next brawl with the Shana Rei.”

Satisfied, the two departed from the weapons installation, and she flew Cain back to a transfer station so he could return to Earth. He had built a private mansion on the rim of the Madrid impact crater. He did most of his leadership from there, where he could contemplate decisions while surrounded by his rare art collection. Keah preferred to be on the bridge of her Juggernaut.

After bidding the Deputy farewell, Keah headed the small shuttle back toward the LOC, already thinking about vigorous practice drills that would keep her high command on their toes. Her tacticians would have to study the recent battles at Relleker and in the Onthos system to determine the most effective distribution of sun-bomb blasts for later engagements.

She flew alone for an hour, circling the military base, and eventually set course back to the
Kutuzov,
to inspect progress on the repairs in spacedock.

She knew the next attack could come anywhere, any time. With the entire CDF on perpetual high alert, she was ready to jump at the next chance she got. She wanted to inflict a lot more damage next time she encountered the enemy.

Unfortunately, she did not have to go far or wait long.

Just outside the range of lunar orbit as she made her way to the
Kutuzov,
Keah veered off course as she saw the universe convulse and twist with a roiling blackness, a shadow cloud pouring out of nowhere. Space split open and vomited out a storm of angular black ships, hundreds of thousands of bugbot attackers followed by giant hexagonal cylinders.

The Shana Rei arrived in a silent shout of black thunder, and the robot fleet plunged toward the military complex.

 

CHAPTER

44

GARRISON REEVES

He had not expected to return to Rendezvous so soon. The place had been cold and haunted, populated with nothing but memories. When he and Orli had stopped here two months earlier, Garrison had meant for that to be his farewell, a way to bury his ghosts.

Now Xander and Terry would bring the place alive again.

Garrison's father had devoted years to the pointless task of restoring the broken asteroid cluster, with no thought for how the clans had changed. That ill-conceived effort had failed, but Xander and Terry had a better plan.

After the uproar Elisa caused when she appeared at Academ, Garrison had decided to bring Seth with him as he and Orli started their new adventure at Rendezvous. Even though the wentals had driven Elisa off, Garrison didn't want to risk leaving his son at the school, fearing she might come back. Elisa was not one to give up easily.

Though Seth wanted to stay at Academ with his fellow students, he seemed just as happy to be with DD. Right now, the two were reviewing homework in the
Prodigal Son's
back compartment. As Garrison flew on final approach to Rendezvous, he heard DD quizzing Seth, posing celestial-mechanics problems on the display wall.

Before Olaf Reeves finally gave up and led his people off on an ill-advised exodus, they had managed to rebuild a few of the less damaged asteroid complexes. Hangar bays, life-support systems, interior passages and chambers were all ready for habitation again. The asteroids themselves would provide the raw materials necessary for the repair facilities once Handon Station started attracting traffic.

“I'd call this my second chance,” Garrison said, “but we're well past that.”

“It's
our
second chance,” Orli said, and leaned close to him.

He was so happy to be back with her. He woke up every day with a sense of optimism. They felt so right together. During their month-long hiatus, they had each experienced their share of excitement, and had concluded that if they were going to have so many troubles, they might as well face them together.

The system's red dwarf sun didn't provide much light for the interconnected asteroids, but artificial illumination banks lit up the central rock and a handful of docking stations. As they flew in toward the functional asteroids, Garrison saw several other small ships there, initial crews that had already come from Newstation.

The comm crackled, and Xander transmitted, “Come in and make yourselves at home,
Prodigal Son.
We've got a lot of work to do together.”

Once Garrison landed inside the bay and shut down the engines, Seth and DD were the first to bound out of the ship. Accompanied by OK, Xander came toward them, wiping his hands on a rag. Seth was delighted to see the other compy and went up to introduce himself.

At Xander's curious look, Orli nodded in the boy's direction. “He's as interested in compies as I am. Seth can be my assistant if I open a compy-upgrade business while the rest of you work on repairing salvaged vessels here at Handon Station.”

Terry came out of the main receiving office, pulling himself along in the asteroid's low gravity. “We have to find a better name for this place.”

“Too late,” Xander said, both flippant and determined.

With a sigh, Terry turned to Garrison. “We got here a day and a half ago to turn on the lights. More crews are coming.”

“Gotta get the starter facilities running as fast as we can.” Xander already looked harried. “Soon enough we'll start hauling in the first ships from Relleker for salvage.”

A look of pain crossed Orli's face. “Relleker was my real home for years. I was absorbed in my compy work, and DD was my best friend.” She drew a deep breath, and Garrison held her as she spoke. “Everyone I knew on Relleker is dead now. At least Matthew is alive on New Portugal.”

With his mistress and his new baby,
Garrison thought. There wasn't anything he could do to make her forget her former husband or her past on Relleker, though, and he didn't want to forget his own scars.

Not noticing Orli's sadness, Xander gestured them toward the tunnels leading into the asteroid. “Plenty of rooms are ready for guests. You're welcome to claim any you like, but I thought you'd want your old rooms, Garrison? From before?” Xander lowered his voice. “We found the memorial plaque you left, and all the recorded messages from clan Reeves. I listened to many of them … but I had to stop.”

“We're very sorry about what happened to your family,” Terry said.

“I am too.” Garrison kept his voice low as Seth ran off with OK and DD. Once the boy was gone, he said, “My clan made their own decision, and it was a bad one. No fixing it now.”

Orli said, “Seems to me, your stubborn father was the reason for the disaster.
He
made the wrong decision. The rest of them just followed him.”

“And following him was their decision,” Garrison said, then let out a long sigh. He had made bad decisions, too—such as marrying Elisa Enturi. And yet even that poor choice had produced the silver lining of his son, and he wouldn't trade Seth for anything. And when his relationship with Elisa had fallen apart, it set off a long chain of events that had led to him meeting Orli. Happy endings.

Each decision had consequences, a cascade of effects, some good, some bad, all of them culminating in
now.
And he didn't want to change that.

“We're here because of who we are.” Garrison slid his arm around Orli again and looked at Xander and Terry. “Rendezvous should never have been restored to exactly what it was. I like your idea better. Considering the history of this place and how much the Roamers want it to succeed, I think Handon Station will be even more successful than Ulio was.”

“We're not going to call it Handon Station,” Terry insisted.

“I think we are,” Xander said in a singsong voice.

When Garrison said it again, even Terry looked as if the argument was lost.

 

CHAPTER

45

XANDER BRINDLE

Xander knew the Roamer clans would recognize a good opportunity when it was right in front of them. Each person had a Guiding Star, and in this instance, those stars all clustered together. Handon Station was going to be glorious.

Terry was not an outgoing person; he preferred a quiet life, but Xander wouldn't let him get away with that, since he was the head of these operations. When Terry grumbled about his new responsibilities, Xander said, “Sometimes ambitions are forced upon you. You have money and big dreams, but implementing them is the hard work. Once we have the place up and running, we'll delegate all the pain-in-the-ass work. That's what executives do.”

“I've never been an executive before,” Terry said. “I want to keep busy, do something useful.”

Xander laughed. “We'll keep you useful—and busy.”

More Roamer ships arrived daily with clan members offering their services as space construction workers, mechanics, life-support technicians, stardrive specialists. Delivery ships brought in the enormous amounts of equipment and supplies required for setting up the new operations. Terry paid the entire up-front investment, and it made no noticeable dent in his account balance. Still, he felt conscientious about waste, and he tried to keep track of the expenditures.

Garrison proved to be a competent manager. He had experience supervising work teams at the Big Ring and in the Lunar Orbital Complex at Earth, and Terry happily handed over more of the administrative tasks.

Orli spread the word that she was ready to work on any compies that needed maintenance, and DD looked forward to having new friends. Some Roamers arrived at the complex with their own damaged ships, asking for cut rates on repairs because they were among the first customers. Xander dickered with them, but not too vigorously, since the maintenance teams needed practice. “Handon Station has to start somewhere,” he said.

With the basic structure in place, Xander was anxious to get rolling on a much bigger scale. “If you want to make an impression, Terry, we need ships—a lot of ships—to make this a full-fledged repair yard. We should go to Relleker ourselves to see what's worth salvaging. Garrison can handle operations here.”

“It may be a short trip. Most of the ships there must have been destroyed in the attack,” Terry said.

“‘Destroyed' is a relative term. You're not thinking like a Roamer. Just imagine all the hull sections, stardrives, and just plain spare parts we can round up. You know what Maria would have done with all that.”

In his years working at Ulio, Terry had learned how to make even the smallest of scraps count. “You're right. We should lead the first teams at Relleker. Garrison can watch over operations here, and you and I will be salvage managers.”

“Is that supposed to be an impressive title?”

“
Senior
salvage manager,” Terry said. “I'll let you have that one.”

Before they departed, four clunky old-model vessels from clan Selise limped into the Rendezvous complex, and after one look at them, Xander assumed they were customers for the repair facilities. Xander gave them a cheery welcome: “We don't have enough functional spacedocks to take all four of you at once, but we'll get your ships fixed up.”

Omar Selise, an old clan leader with a lantern-shaped face and scraggly gray hair, looked offended by Xander's suggestion. “Repairs? These old ships work just fine. We came to offer our services.”

From an even worse-looking ship, a second scruffy man said, “These ships have been workhorses for clan Selise since before you were born, boy! Doesn't matter what it looks like on the outside, I pay attention to how it works under the hood. I said the same thing about my second wife.”

“Then we're pleased to have you join us,” Terry said in a conciliatory tone. “Welcome.”

When Xander told them of their upcoming mission to Relleker, all four Selise ships volunteered to take part in the salvage activities there. Later, while Terry finished the final loading and preparations to take the
Verne
out, Xander was caught off guard when Omar Selise approached him alone in a rock-walled corridor. The old man poked a finger at him. “Need to talk to you, Brindle. I know you put out private word for some very specific medical research projects, and I've done a little digging.” Omar leaned closer to him. “Got a paralyzed grandson of my own. Same condition as your partner's.”

That caught Xander's attention.